GILROY
– The U.S. Postal Service recently awarded all employees who
were wounded in combat a special plaque, including Gilroy’s Robert
Johnston.
GILROY – The U.S. Postal Service recently awarded all employees who were wounded in combat a special plaque, including Gilroy’s Robert Johnston.
Johnston, 53, was born in Whittier, former President Richard Nixon’s hometown. He works for the San Martin Post Office, where for the past 19 years he has been a desk clerk.
On May 30, the USPS issued a commemorative Purple Heart stamp and, as a result, the San Jose district held a ceremony in July honoring postal employees who had received a Purple Heart.
“I became aware of this, not through the office, but through my involvement with veterans’ issues in San Jose, so I was able to get my name on that list to be able to participate,” Johnston said.
Johnston is a member of Vietnam Veterans of America, which has pushed for the flying of the POW/MIA flag over federal buildings. Five years ago, a law was passed that mandated the flag to fly.
“The federal law was the result of one of our national resolutions … ,” Johnston said.
Johnston joined the Army in August 1968 and volunteered for Vietnam. His first tour of duty in 1969 was with the 25th Infantry Division doing reconnaissance. Johnston was wounded one day shy of a year in the service on Aug. 18 that year.
“Another guy and I were working on getting ready to fire a night mortar mission,” Johnston said. “He and I were struck in the initial volley of rockets.”
Johnston was wounded in both legs, his back and shoulders. He spent six weeks moving between different hospitals in Vietnam and Japan. Because he still had two years to go in the service, Johnston was sent to Fort Ord near Monterey.
Johnston was later transferred to German but decided that he would prefer to be in Vietnam.
“The war was still going on in Vietnam, and I did not like where I was at in Germany,” he said.
Johnston had another reason for returning. A friend, Dave Cooper, went to Vietnam, and word came back that he had been killed.
“I felt real bad, and I had a real case of survivor guilt,” Johnston said. “I decided that my place was back there.”
His second tour of duty went by safely, and he finished his Army career back home in the United States in 1976. He then joined the National Guard but during summer camp of 1980, Johnston had an unexpected visitor.
One day at lunch, Cooper walked through the door.
“He saw me, and I saw him,” Johnston said. “We walked up to each other, and I said what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be dead.”
Cooper and Johnston have since kept in touch.
The war was a traumatizing time, causing post-traumatic stress disorder for many veterans. Some have experienced nightmares. Johnston said that he has been able to sleep, but he has a heightened awareness. His house is under the flight path for military and hospital aircraft.
“Every day I hear choppers, I hear aircraft,” he said. “It’s an instantaneous flashback. I don’t get as anxious or nervous about it, but there’s not a day goes by that I don’t have some kind of mental or physical stimulant reminder. I can feel an aircraft or a helicopter approach before people ever hear them.”
Because he served two different tours of duty, Johnston received two different homecomings. The first was quiet. He came home on a bus and surprised his family.
Johnston’s second homecoming was more memorable. While sitting in a coffee shop when an older man asked if he could buy him coffee as a welcome-home gesture. They sat and talked for an hour before Johnston had to leave.
When Johnson got home town he was offered a ride from a woman who had had a son killed in Vietnam.
“She was glad that I was going home to my mother and she glad that she could give me a ride home because she was not going to have that happen with her,” Johnston said. “That tugged on the heart strings quite a bit.”
Again Johnston surprised his family about coming home. He said that by not telling his family, he could be late and not cause anyone to worry about him.
Being a postal employee was something Johnston never expected. He briefly worked in the mail room while stationed in Germany and said that he hated the job.
“I said I would never work with mail again in my life,” Johnston said. “Never say never, because it will come back and get you.”
After bouncing between different security jobs, he decided that he needed to do something else. Johnston applied for and received a temporary position at the San Martin Post Office. He now has a little more than two years until retirement.
